Nero tentatively observed the approaching contingent, her hands resting on the hilt of her crimson sword as she stood atop the battlements with her back straightened, projecting an image of unperturbed confidence to all those who followed and depended on her to guide them.
But well, it wouldn't be true if she said she wasn't a bit nervous.
"From what the scouts have reported, the ones we face now hail from Sparta. I do not know why they have travelled so far to aid rebels." Nero noted, gripping her blade, "But we will face them all the same."
True to their namesake, their bodies were tempered by constant training and battle, so much so that they seemed to disregard the weather entirely and march undisturbed... They wore no armour whatsoever save for leg greaves, bracelets and helmets.
While some might call that costly arrogance, the Spartans had proved to all why they could afford to do something like that.
"You know, I don't get why you're so worried." Yu spoke out, sitting at the edge off the wall, dangling her legs as she read a book, "That's barely a thousand men."
"Umu, less than five hundred... but, I see you do not know of what happened at Thermopylae."
Yu chortled at her words, "Sure, we'll go with that."
Nero didn't get why the girl spoke with so much familiarity and nostalgia to her tone, according to their leader, they were from another time entirely, "Do you disagree?"
"Of course I disagree." Yu closed her book and turned to look at her with disapproval. Before Nero could inquire though, the girl pointed her thumb at one of the nearby towers where a certain white haired man was standing, staring off into the Sun, "That guys a living-breathing artillery unit... wait no, that's an understatement. He's like an ICBM."
Nero tilted her head in confusion, "Iseebeam?...What?"
"Very big rock, he is big rock that crush enemy and explode into little rocks that also crush enemy."
"...?"
Yu ignored her confusion and gestured to the ashen haired woman in black armour grinning at the approaching army, "That's a lady calls herself Dragon Witch, turns air into fire."
She then pointed at the green haired woman with eastern features looking over at them with shining golden eyes, "That's an actual dragon."
"W...When you put it that way..."
The situation wasn't as bad as she thought it was, was it?
Maybe the stress of having to shed the blood of her own people was getting to her.
Yu wasn't finished however, and pointed at the red haired teen looking down at people like they were ants, "I don't know what that is but she unsettles me. Trust me, that's something."
"And if these Spartans have a queen, I'm pretty sure your 'general' is gonna appear with her wanting to marry him."
"That is..." Nero opened her mouth to refute but something told her it was a distinct possibility.
For the first time, the Emperor of Roses doubted her instincts.
Anyway, the enemy contingent was close enough.
Her soldiers waited with bated breaths for the upcoming conflict.
"Ready men!" Nero held up a hand.
"SPARTAAANS!"
The voice thundered even where she was without any kind of vocal modification, momentarily startling Nero... Even Yu put down her book and looked down curiously, "Well... that's something."
"MAKE WAY!!"
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this." Emiya appeared next to them, holding an obsidian longbow.
They watched together as the soldiers parted uniformly, jamming the butts of their lances into the earth at their feet.
Once the path had been cleared, a certain someone made his way to the front with an unintelligible expression on his face.
Emiya threw his bow to the ground and smashed his foot down on it before it could clang.
"Fuck it, I'm done!"
The exasperated Counter Guardian stomped away indignantly.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" Nero wondered out loud as Yu let out a small, defeated, giggle.
"This is about what I've come to expect. There's your general, I'm sure you want to ask him how."
The Emperor of Roses stepped off the wall with a joyful smile.
-
"Honestly, why do we even need standing armies or cool powers? We can just throw you at the problem."
Nicholas did not appreciate the sarcastic tone Emiya was speaking to him with but, he was too busy trying to strangle Kiyohime at the moment, "You tryna say something man?"
"Yeah I am. If it's a man we send you to beat the shit out of him." Emiya answered with a sigh, "And if it's a girl, we send you to seduce her."
"Fuck you, Emiya." Jalter, the subject of the latter part of his words, flipped him off with an embarrassed glare, "I hope you choke on your food."
Martha was too busy with feeding Mordred 'proper food'.
"It'd be preferable to having to attempt to logically explain this man's accomplishments." Emiya quipped back indignantly, arms crossed, "Do you know what happened to the last guy who tried to talk sense with the spartans?"
"No?"
"Exactly."
"What's so hard to get?" Nicholas asked curiously, finally prying Kiyohime off himself and yeeting her in a random direction, "Dude didn't like working for a shitty master that made him put innocents in danger so he did the right thing and switched sides."
Normally, Nicholas wouldn't exactly respect a person for switching sides so quickly but in this one case, even he could see the why. He'd have done the exact same thing.
"Indeed! I could not have put it better myself." King Leonidas declared loudly, dropkicking his way into the discussion with supreme confidence, "Allow me to introduce myself. King Leonidas I of Sparta! Though I ruled my people in my life, I have come to accept the position of Supreme General under Nicholas Martel in his righteous war against those who seek to do humanity harm. It is a matter of honour and responsibility."
Emiya just threw his hands up in surrender before giving a small nod, "Personal opinion aside, good job on recruiting one of the greatest generals ever to live."
"Would it be cool if I declared myself Emperor of Man?" Nicholas accepted the praise with a small chortle.
Nero, who'd just been listening in while considering her next move, perked up at his words, "But you work for me? Do you not?"
"Would it be cool if we rebelled?"
"No?" The Emperor of Roses started laughing, "I knew you to be good at jokes but not this good?" Nero looked around confusedly when no one joined in, "Wait... Why is nobody laughing? Why are all of you averting your gazes?"
Nicholas placed a hand on her shoulder with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"You can't kidnap the current Roman Emperor! It would derail history completely!"
"Where's Mash? I need to consult Mash."
-
"Well... BB thinks this may have gotten a bit out of hand?" BB stood in the air, sweat rolling down her forehead as she tried to come up with an excuse.
She was trying to make sure her senpai wouldn't get bored like any good kouhai and did her own thing for a bit.
Was it really her fault if she went a bi-... The Capital of the United Roman Empire was burning.
Yep, the capital of their enemy was on fire.
And BB had nothing to do with it at all, nope, nothing at all.
...
...
...
Okay so maybe she did have just a teensy tiny bit to do with it.
But was it really her fault for not knowing that giving madness enhancement to the one called the Scourge of God would backfire?
Okay, maybe it was mostly her fault.
BUT! Summoning said person's army using whatever was left in the Holy Grail of the singularity wasn't her idea! Nope! It was that dumb insect calling himself a Demon God!
Yes, what a vile dastardly man, to summon Atilla the Hun and his forces to ravage the time period! Getting killed by what he summoned must have been his plan all along!
BB looked down at the... well, she was sure the number crossed a hundred thousand at some point, men, hunting down the remnants of the rebel army and making mountains of skulls while others looted freely... burning the vast capital as they saw fit... all the while screeching and howling like madmen.
The 'best-kouhai-ever' then watched with a sheepish expression as the clouds parted and a multicoloured beam of pure destruction just completely removed a section of the city from the face of the planet.
With a confused smile on her face, BB ran away.
She was going to tell on these meanies to her senpai! They were just supposed to give her senpai a good fight!
But before she left, the mischievous servant cast a final glance at the Scourge of God.
A tanned girl with white hair and tribal tattoos all over her, truthfully, frail body... Her red eyes portrayed no emotion and the only thing in her mind was destruction. She barely anything, simply covering the important bits with cloth and a veil to cover her hair.
She stared up at BB in silence as a city burnt under her command.
Well, er... at least the rebels were gone?
Nevermind the two hundred thousands or so huns she'd unleashed on Rome.
-
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Check out Fate/Assailed